Dallas Cowboys Blog

Rob Ryan’s annual December slide

The deterioration of the Dallas Cowboys’ defense is consistent with the career path of its coordinator: Rob Ryan.

This is Ryan’s ninth season as an NFL defensive coordinator, with Oakland, Cleveland and the Cowboys. In that time, his teams are 28-61 (.315 winning percentage) through November 30 and 9-27 (.250) from December 1 through the end of the regular season. (Ryan has never been with a winning team as a DC, let alone a playoff team.) In those 36 late-season games, Ryan’s defense has allowed 30-plus points 15 times.

Being in the playoff hunt is a new experience for Ryan, as a DC. Before this season, the teams that employed him as a DC had never won more than five regular-season games. The overall record for Cleveland and Oakland with Ryan as DC: 30-82.